REALLY Slick Backup Solution for W2K8 - For Free!!
Hi all....For the last couple of days I have been playing around with a backup solution for W2K8 using PXE, a WDS Server,a winpe boot image and a backup image created on a network share using Windows Server Backup.I have to say that I am VERY pleased with the results.In a nutshell, a winpe boot image is created and deployed on a WDS server to allow a W2K8 server the option to PXE boot into Windows Recovery Environment. Once the WindowsRE is loaded simply "find" the backup image on the network created with Windows Server Backup and off you go.It took about 30 mins to do a complete wipe and restore.Considering the whole deal is basically free with the exception of server hardware for WDS, a place to store the images and an additional seat of W2K8 (which can all be the same box) it's a real gem of a solution.GOOD JOB MSFT!!!
July 25th, 2008 8:56pm

Good job!This brings up something that I have been meaning to try but haven't gotten around to. Instead of using WSB, I have thought of using imagex from the Windows Automated Installation Kit. This would work very similarly to what you are doing. The difference would be that the WIM file could be 'shared' by multiple backed up systems. Because WIM saves only a single copy of every file in the container, that means that backing up the second, third, etc systems would add very little additional storage to the backup requirement.tgc
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July 28th, 2008 2:29pm

Now that would be slick. If one had a way of changing the SSID and other "per machine" stuff that could be used to effectively "ghost" a machine. That would REALLY come in handy with TS farms.
July 28th, 2008 9:20pm

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